Raising Canes on Halloween

Well, Miami has a starting quarterback for its opener Thursday against Charleston Southern.

It’s been decided because the front-runner for the job, redshirt freshman Robert Marve, is suspended for getting arrested last Halloween for “resisting arrest without violence and minor criminal mischief” according to the Miami Herald.

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That’s a fancy way of saying he broke the mirror on a car and ran from a cop who happened to be nearby. Good times.

The dubious part of this isn’t Marve’s actions (though it certainly sounds like he had a moment of stupidity), it’s that Miami coach Randy Shannon waited until this month to spring the punishment on him. Marve’s case, by the way, was closed in March when prosecutors dropped the charges.

One side’s contention that it was important to maintain a player’s motivation throughout camp might not outweigh the thinking that you might want to be up-front with your players. It makes sense that reporters weren’t informed of this. But to a player, it’s easy to see how it might seem a little ridiculous that an incident that occurred more than nine months ago is being brought up now to mete out discipline.

So Jacory Harris will start this week, and Marve will apparently take over after for the Hurricanes’ meeting with Florida.

So aside from dubious decision-making on all fronts, it’s just one more piece of evidence it might be a good idea for football coaches to keep their players under wraps on Halloween – especially this year, when it lands on a Friday.